An app a day, keeps crisis away
- Smart Phone apps could adapt low-wage markets to digital living
A popular discussion that makes the rounds in today's households, through group video calls or any other form of subverting the increasing remoteness of the pandemic we are going through – is about that very notion of remoteness. The idea that our lifestyle as a species is becoming increasingly digitized and distant. The need for physical interaction has reduced from a necessity to a choice. The COVID crisis has merely amplified this trend, it didn’t initiate it. We’ve been moving towards an age of digital living and remote working for over a decade now. We are in the era of personal computing, steadily headed for the next stage, Ubiquitous computing. An age where technology quietly recedes into the background, so intertwined with our lives that we don’t even sense its presence.
This doesn’t have to result in dystopian phantasm of a city, it’s just an inevitable trajectory we must carefully calibrate for. This technological innovation isn’t just getting more intertwined, it’s getting more agile. We have in our hands, a device (smartphone) considerably more powerful than the supercomputers of previous decades that launched astronauts into space (Routley 2017)! Of course, none of these are groundbreaking discoveries on my part, and this isn’t exactly what I want to write about either. Instead, I’ll consider a tangential opportunity the smartphone presents to address a few of the possible dystopian scenarios that could arise with where we’re headed.
Following the announcement of the first lock down in India on the 25th of March, our phones were flooded with news articles, Instagram posts and snippets of an unanticipated mass exodus of migrants from major cities. The general state of panic among these daily wage workers, who with social distancing curfews in place, had no reason or means of surviving in the city. This is the dystopian scenario I speak of. Remote living will prove to be extremely appealing to the affluent individual who will use the time they gain from the lack of commute towards learning a new musical instrument with Virtual reality classes. Great. They’ll order their food online, shop for clothing online, meet their friends for a casual virtual group workout on a daily basis, life goes on. An inflamed, prolonged and maybe less enforced version of today's virtual reality.
What happens to the daily wage worker? Does the Darwinian principle of survival extinguish the street side vendor, chaiwallah and footpath barber from existence on account of evolutionary inferiority? Unless, as evolution suggests, they adapt. “The ubiquitous geospatial mesh of IoT could have disruptive ramifications in all dimensions of business” (Ratti 2017). We’re seeing this happen right now, with the current scenario thrusting remote working into hyper drive, forcing businesses to either adapt or succumb to it. Nearly 50-60% of the IT sector in India isn’t equipped to work remotely, imagine the plight of the daily wage worker. No wonder they are desperate, violating distancing protocols to get back to their home towns and villages, where they will find sustenance from a sense of community and importance. Something our cities have failed to give them.
Mass Exodus of migrants in Delhi following lock down
Attempting to address dying micro-industries in the wake of a remote living and working world, requires an understanding of some basic requirements migrant communities, daily wage workers and informal businesses need to function:
1) A constant source of employment/ business
2) A market that encourages a collaborative business model instead of a competitive one
3) A sense of belonging and community
4) Safety and assurance against erratic climate, eviction and policy
5) A channel for support and information
A common counter argument could be that if micro-industries and low wage workers require policymakers, designers and technological innovators to go out of their way to preserve and repair their growing irrelevance, then maybe they aren’t worth it? If people don’t really need them, or what they have to offer, why keep them in the picture? And spend money doing so.
If the concern is their relevance, a case could be made towards grassroots low wage markets being breeding grounds for bottom up entrepreneurship. When a majority of the India city lives and thrives on informal systems of commute, negotiation and commerce, it makes little sense to amputate the source of economic system. The Indian condition is an ironic one, or as Bhan (2014) puts it,
“India’s attempt to impose formal planning procedures and reject informality is oxymoronic in nature as the very chaos they seek to avoid is the chaos within which such plans and visions must materialize”
We cannot imagine a future where the largest chunk of our cities doesn’t fashion in. Of course, it is also hampering and unimaginative to imagine a future where they fashion just as they are in the present. So again, the key is to adapt. To somehow stay relevant in a changing world, so that we move forward, whilst leaving no one behind.
If the concern is that the cost to addressing this issue is unjustifiable to the profit generated in return, the answer is fairly straightforward – Cheaper, and by extension, more innovative ways of addressing the issue, is the way.
This brings me to the SmartPhone – that hand held device with endless capabilities, and a growing market that has made it extremely accessible, affordable and a possible answer. “Broadband fiber-optic and wireless telecommunication grids are supporting mobile phones, smartphones and tablets that are increasingly affordable” (Ratti 2017). More importantly, it is vital to develop apps TARGETED at low-wage markets and labor, rather than discussing how general platform apps could help them.
Sassen (2015) points out that digitization could transform the neighborhood into a social-back up system, a supportive network for entrepreneurship. She also states that it is becoming increasingly clear that low-income households and labor desperately need mobile-friendly products, as a majority of them access the digital world through such devices only. The aim is to create an environment of online workers who can resist the wave of digital living that is beginning to sweep urbanity. The neighborhood, she points out, is the spatial setting for collaboration, connection and mutual recognition. And for precisely this reason, we NEED to develop more apps that support them.
Following this understanding, I’ve looked into several applications on smart phones that open up doors to innovative ways of supporting low-wage markets and labor. I categorized these apps on the basis of their key function, and I will delve into detail regarding only few of these apps – to highlight the attitude with which we must approach app development, and who I specifically mean when I say “we”.
1. Entrepreneurship supporting entrepreneurship:
Apps developed in India such as Timesaverz, Taskbob and Hands are directed at connecting people to services they need to run their households on a day to day basis. This includes maids, plumbers, carpenters, cooks, drivers and other such services that form a major chunk of the informal financial sector. Nearly 4.2 million domestic workers form this segment in India (Rao 2015 – QuartzIndia).
These apps function by screening daily wage workers and uploading their data, prices and services offered. Customers can select and swipe of their required individuals in the vicinity – with an aim to provide services in a much quicker time. They can go where the business is. A two-way rating system in place ensures fair pricing and decreased issues of fraud (On either side).
Some of the issues are related to visibility. Some workers feel that word of mouth, visibility in the neighborhood and internet ads provide more visibility than apps, since the first two establish a degree of spatial monopoly, which the apps replace by a competitive market. The workers desire permanent customers over technology and rating systems – which is an interesting line of thinking, that opens up possibilities to how technology can increase chances of permanent employment and steady business.
A case can be made that entrepreneurial innovation by individuals in better economic categories to smoothen their day to day services can in-fact benefit daily wage workers by providing them a wider range of clientele, quicker job offers and a wider mark of credibility than the confines of a neighborhood.
2. Rallying support
Jornalero, that translates to “day laborer” in Spanish, is an app developed by the New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE) – a nonprofit immigrant’s rights group in Jackson Heights, New York. It is a bilingual app (English and Spanish) designed to strengthen the position of vulnerable workers who are often victims of wage theft.
The app lets workers document their hours, record employer information and job site conditions, and even share their location with other users. Users’ profiles link only to a phone number. This is an important feature for a population of workers dominated by undocumented immigrants. If a user reports through the app that she was not paid or was underpaid, NICE will attempt to contact the employer. If the wages still don’t appear, Manuel Castro, executive director of NICE, told the Times that the documentation will help workers file legal complaints to get the wages they deserve
This app marks the ability for NGOs and nonprofit organizations to rally organized support for low-income workers. It forms not just a support platform, but a statistical data set to monitor income ranges and fluctuations in low wage markets, allowing for better study into ways to improve financial security for the vulnerable. Apps such as Kinvolved – offering support to working parents with regards to their children’s academic progress, and Panoply – Using crowd sourcing to offer health therapy, are also targeted at creating a supportive atmosphere.
3. Agency and Contribution
Apps like My Gov open up doors to involving citizens in feedback loops and decision-making processes. It’ an example of a state-led initiative targeted towards giving end-users a platform to express opinions, ideas and disagreements. It’s an internet-based platform and mobile app for citizen engagement in India. The portal, launched in 2014, is a one-of-its-kind interactive platform that solicits ideas, views and suggestions from citizens, irrespective of their location. Citizens generate and share data to improve the way city works, they act collectively, connect with each other to share resources
Crowd sourcing works with real time mapping of responses which decentralizes the analysis of the surveys, reduces time taken for policy making and makes the results more accurate. This being said, it is imperative that such efforts and initiatives take a step further to become more targeted towards low-income markets. Otherwise, responses will be muddled across various economic categories and could lead to mixed result sets that don’t necessarily result in targeted state efforts. This could pave the way to an increased agency and contribution by low income categories, and by extension, a sense of belonging and importance in the city.
Key Providers:
1) NGOs
2) Private Enterprise
3) Entrepreneurial
4) State
A majority of apps developed are targeted at assimilating finances and easing payment methods, as important as e-finance is, if low-wage markets are to survive, more of an effort needs to be put into the areas discussed above. Inculcating a sense of support and community, using crowd sourcing to offer intellectual services and lastly, inducing an atmosphere that supports creative risk taking and allows for individuals to contribute to policy and spatial design.
From the governments point of view, analysis shows a dearth of apps targeted at improving service provision and management – an area to focus on? Effort and innovation must extend beyond merely streamlining finances, it has to improve the quality of life. The good news is that the sheer number of apps being developed by NGOs, nonprofits and concerned citizens points towards a future that doesn’t necessarily rest entirely in the state’s hand. Everyone can, and should, make a difference.
These examples are but a glimpse of what potential this tiny device you’re probably reading this on holds. Maybe we shouldn’t start off with large projects to save small businesses. If large projects are the rescue boat, apps are the life jackets keeping low-wage markets afloat until the boat arrives.
2) https://qz.com/india/456855/from-plumbers-to-cooks-india-is-swiping-to-find-services-through-apps/
5) Bhan, G 2014, THE REAL LIVES OF URBAN FANTASIES, Environment and Urbanization
6) Sassen, S 2015, Digitization And Work: Potentials and Challenges in Low-Wage Labor Markets, Beware of Smart People symposium
7) Ratti, C Claudel, M 2017, The City of Tomorrow: Sensors, Networks, Hackers and the future of urban life, Yale University Press.